


Mad Jackie

by Krachwarn



Category: Siren (TV 2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 06:25:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krachwarn/pseuds/Krachwarn
Summary: Jack Ainley, a Bristol Cove fisherman, makes an intriguing discovery while out minding his traps.





	Mad Jackie

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all!
> 
> A lot of my recent thoughts about the Siren world have focused on wondering how others in town might react to the knowledge of Mermaids in their midst. Would they be shocked? In awe? Cruel? Kind? How would they learn about them? This is a an imaginative prelude to where I think the show will eventually have to go when Ryn's identity become known outside her circle of trust.
> 
> From Ben and Maddies initial reaction, I extrapolated. Many scenarios have played through my mind, but I thought i'd give this a try throught the eyes of an old timer; someone with intimate knowledge of the community and the sea. Someone, perhaps, with some knowledge of the times when Mermaids were not just a laughable myth...
> 
> Enjoy!

Jack Ainley loved to fish. He was one of the few residents in Bristol Cove who had spent his entire life on the sea and still came back day after day deep into his retirement. Nowadays, of course, he wasn’t into trawling anymore, but just simple jigging and crab potting from his small 20 footer to add some flair to his meals. He was currently underway to check his traps.

Ah, the fresh air!

Jack sat back and looked at the sky as the waves slipped by under his keel. Another perfect afternoon. It reminded him fondly of the days when he took his three kids and wife out. Such great times. A small sad chuckle escaped him as he remembered the time he fell overboard trying to help Margret, his oldest, pull in a trap. He hadn’t fished with them in some time. 

Years? 

He scratched his head and readjusted his hat. Well, his wife had passed two years ago, and his three girls were happily married out in Portland. A sudden realisation dawned on him. It had been four years since they last went out together. 

The first Buoy of his came into view, bringing the old man out of his memories. Jack eased off the throttle and moved to grab his hook. Most of his equipment was very old. But he was older. Practiced as he was, it only took a moment to snare the buoy and pull up the small trap. What awaited him was a bit of a shock.

The trap was empty. Well, big deal, such was the luck of the sea. No, the thing that made him pause was that the trap was empty and open, and the combination lock he had rigged to hold the door shut was open too. He stared at it for a brief moment before anger welled up in him.

Damn you Mark Rigley! He exploded. 

Mark, another old fisher, was notorious for raiding traps in the area. Mark was notorious, but he was also stupid and destructive. He would have just cut the lock right off and taken the trap and all. Jack sat back and rubbed his jaw.

Wait a sec, he mused. Mark was dead wasn’t he? Had died all old and peaceful last May, hadn’t he?  
Jack scratched his head again and looked around. He was at a loss.

A sudden chuckle escaped his lips.

Drat those Mermaids! He exclaimed. It was a silly by-word; an old one from the 60’s, used as a way to explain something at sea that didn’t make sense. A play on the name of Bristol cove’s main folklore. Most no longer used it, or believed it, but Jack was a fount of old lore and peculiar sayings. Isabel, his youngest, often teased him about it, but he liked the old ways. She could keep her slang. He had his.  
He also had something else tying him to this particular phrase. 

A memory. 

A memory of a face and a fin unlike any other he had ever seen. Striking blue eyes, and a pronged tail. Yes, Jack believed he had seen mermaids before. It had earned him the name Mad Jackie. He smiled. There wasn’t a better nickname around for a fisher. 

The moment passed as Jack rebaited the trap and sent it down to the sea floor again. He quickly throttled and the engine roared to life again. He had other traps to check.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ryn sat at a table in the diner with Maddie and Helen, idly looking around. The sun was shining outside and cars were driving past one after the other, making swooshing sounds that reminded her of the wind. Inside, there was the buzz of people talking quietly and the clink and clank of dishes. An odd smell of many mixed foods wafted through the air. She recognized some, but other were quite foreign.  
They came here once in a while to talk and share gossip. Ryn suspected it was entirely for her sake. She kind of liked it. She looked around again and made note of the other Humans sitting at tables, all dressed up in their jackets. They reminded her of Ben. Well, kind of. Ben was pretty, while most of the humans in here had wrinkled faces and smelled of car or fish, or other things that smelled worse. 

She hoped Ben was safe.

“How was your swim?” Maddie asked. 

She looked at Ryn with eyes that the mermaid recognized as curiosity.

“Good” she replied. “I see many things. Big fish with three fin. Also eight legs. Many this time of year. I eat, so I am not hungry”.

“Ah, ok.” A big smile spread across her lips. “What did you have?”

Ryn moved her thumb and first finger together, creating a claw. She moved them back and forth until Maddie exclaimed.

“A crab!?”

“Yes, good.” Ryn replied. “Many Crab!”

Maddie smiled and stroked Ryn’s hand in comfort. She kept her gaze on Ryn a moment longer, and then returned to conversation with Helen. Her hand didn’t move though. Ryn looked at it and then put her own one on top, emulating Maddie. She liked the feel of Maddie’s warm hand. She couldn’t place the feeling, but it was comforting. She returned to her scanning of the Diner. New people had entered.  
There was an old man sitting at the counter now, talking to one of the workers.

“Hey Jack! No luck today?” the worker teased.

The old man grunted.

“The strangest thing happened today Betzy! I was minding my traps and all of em had been tampered with. The locks had been opened!”  
“How strange”, the girl replied, giving him a mug of Coffee.

“Yeah no kiddin’. They be combination locks. Who ever done it was mighty clever. Not a crab I know.”

They both chuckled as he leaned over and whispered something inaudible into the waitresses’ ear. She burst out laughing.

“Not again Jacky boy! You’ve been telling that tale for years. Half the town thinks you’re mad”

“No, really! Just think about it! All my traps raided in such a way; all the weird things happening in town. It could be!” he insisted.

“Not a chance” she retorted. “I swear sometimes that story gets bigger every time you tell it!”

“Oh really? So just think about it a moment. An antique harpoon just magically ends up on centre street, Eh? Pownall’s gets broken into….. Twice! And they don’t steal cash, just chew on fish!”

“Sherriff says it’s the druggies!”

“Ha”, the old man snorted. “Well, I’ll go hungry tonight. Was wishing me a good crab. Think I got some other things”.

The two were joined by others, who quickly were told of the day’s events. The Diner erupted in laughter. Ryn felt bad, and Maddie and Helen quickly clued in.

“Ryn, have you been poaching traps?” Helen whispered, leaning in. Maddie leaned in too.

“Crab was in box, yes” Ryn carefully replied, reading her friends faces. “Is bad?” 

“It’s too risky, Ryn!” Helen hissed. “Remember how Donna was caught! It’s also not good to steal from others. Old Jack needs his food too.”

The two locked eyes for a moment and Ryn looked back at the old man. She bowed her head. The Humans returned to talking but Ryn returned her gaze to the old man.  
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jack was out on the water again. About a week had passed since his traps had been raided. They hadn’t been touched since, and the memory of it was beginning to fade, just like all others. He smiled briefly, feeling the wind on his face. 

I wonder what the church is hosting tonight, he mused. They usually had something going on Wednesday’s, didn’t they? Yes, Bingo perhaps? He’d have to check.  
He was almost done out here anyways. The last buoy came into view and he turned down the throttle. Hooking it, he pulled up the trap.

And nearly dropped it back into the water!

It was filled with Cod. Filled to the brim!

“Lord Almighty” he choked. “What the….”

He pinched himself. How was this possible? These big fish couldn’t get into a crab pot! They were squeezed in like sardines. His mind raced. He stood there for a moment puzzling out the clearly impossible situation. Who would…

A sudden thought crossed his mind. He looked up and around him. He was alone, with no other boats in sight.

And yet…

He scanned the water intently. Out about 100 yards there was a small dark shape in the water. It looked like a hairy head. A hairy head with blue eyes. Just as Jack saw it, it disappeared under the waves. A moment later a distinct fin briefly touched the sky and was gone. 

The old man stood there on his deck, rocking slowly back and forth for a while, collecting his wits. He was dumbstruck. Words would not form. No one would believe him this time, he thought. NO, not Mad Jackie. Seconds turned to minutes…

A sudden grin finally split his face. Why not play the part?

“Alright Girly, I knows what you wants” he bellowed. 

He grabbed for one of the crabs he had caught that day and held it over the side.  
He let it go.

A small splash later the crustacean disappeared from view. Jack straightened and looked around. He had hoped something might happen, but after a moment he curbed his expectations. He turned his eyes back to the Cod in the trap. There were four. Inspiration gripped him again, and he grabbed three more crabs and let them slide back into the water. Fair was only fair…

He waited for a while longer but saw nothing. 

Finally, after several minutes, Jack brought his boat back to life. He was going home. He could barely contain himself! He had seen his Mermaid! 

“O, what a life I’ve lived!” he whistled. “No one will believe me, but who cares!” He waved his hat around, saluting the sea. He decided he would keep this tale all to himself this time.

Had he only looked back then, he would have seen those blue eyes again, and some sharp teeth, contently snapping and chewing the very same crab he had thrown overboard some minutes before.

**Author's Note:**

> Right! So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed:) I definitely did! And now I also have the song of Jack the Whaler stuck in my head:p
> 
> If you have thoughts of your own or comments about this piece, please tell me! 
> 
> A small thought experiment: How would you react to suddenly finding out there were mermaids? Would you tell others? Would you be afraid? Would you be caught by their sensual, mysterious nature?


End file.
